


Stand by me (in the eye of the storm)

by BlueFireWolves



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Ahsoka Tano Didn't Leave the Jedi Order, Anakin Skywalker Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side, CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo Lives, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives Lives, F/F, F/M, Female Clone Troopers - Freeform, Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Naxos is its own warning, Order 66 Didn't Happen (Star Wars), Protective Clone Troopers (Star Wars), and so is Kamino
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:29:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28756653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueFireWolves/pseuds/BlueFireWolves
Summary: The 501st and 212th have been dispatched to the planet Naxos in the Outer-Rim to make contact with the 803rd who the republic has lost contact with. Unknown to the Republic or the forces sent to find them the 803rd is in a fight for its very survival. But their bond in the fight may be what saves the Jedi and Republic.
Relationships: 212th Attack Battalion & Obi-Wan Kenobi, 501st Legion & Anakin Skywalker, CC-2224 | Cody/Obi-Wan Kenobi, CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Thera Kryze & CT-12858 | Tink(Oc), Thera Kryze(Oc) & CT-12856 | Lynx(Oc), Thera Kryze(Oc) & CT-14-8468 | Saros(Oc), Thera Kryze(Oc) & CT-17-2108 | Jazz(Oc), Thera Kryze(Oc) & CT-1889 | Rabbit(Oc), Thera Kryze(Oc) & CT-1928 | River(Oc), Thera Kryze(Oc) & CT-1930 | Raine(Oc), Thera Kryze(Oc) & CT-1932 | Relay(Oc), Thera Kryze(Oc) & Sasha Kryze(Oc), Thera Kryze(Oc)/CT-1888 | Anubis(Oc), Thera Kryze(oc) & CT-1908 | ARC-1908 | Sire(oc)
Kudos: 4





	Stand by me (in the eye of the storm)

**Author's Note:**

> Reviews make the world go round.

A single ARC trooper in burnt orange painted armor rifled through the remaining supplies that they had left. “We’re out of medical supplies and low on ration bars. We have only twenty ammo packs for our blasters left and just a handful of thermal detonators.” He sighed as he looked up at their injured Jedi Commander.

“Don’t.” 

  
Both ARC and Jedi looked over at another clone who stood off to the side, blaster rifle resting in their arms. The painted face of a god of death called Anubis from an old religion was on the front of the helmet. Jagged out line of bones ran down the arms until the made claws of the gauntlets. “Don’t. We all know what you were about to say and it’s not your fault about the medical supplies.” When the Jedi looked like they were about to protest, the clone cut them off with a single look.   
  


“Shouldn’t you be at the wall?” The ARC asked.   
  


“Rabbit and Jazz are at the wall Sire.”   
  


“Anubis.”

“Sire.”

“Have you heard anything from River’s group yet?” The Jedi asked. 

“Nothing yet Commander.” Came the solemn reply from their ARC trooper better known as Sire.   
  


Sire had a crown painted into his helmet. On the arms were two lines of small Celtic trinity’s ruining all the way to his gloves. The same pattern ran up his legs before stopping at the top of his thighs. On the center of his chest piece was a single large Celtic star.

“Thera?”

“Yes Sire?”

“Do you, do you think anyone will come for us?”

Thera gave a weary sigh. “I won’t lie to you Sire, I don’t know. But if they do, we need to make sure we are here to be found.”

“Like any other Jedi other than you give a shit about us. We’re just cannon fodder to them. Not even people, just numbers.” Anubis scoffed.   
  


“I think there might be at least a couple of Jedi who don’t think that Bis.” Thera though agreed with her for the most part. Did the Jedi Order even care about them? 

Sire carefully put back their limited supplies in the crate. “We haven’t seen much activity in the city on that side of the hill. Rabbit thinks they going to go around and attack from the other way.”

“Why not use the ship pick everyone up and leave?” Anubis nodded towards the ship sitting just behind them with its ramp down.   
  


“Because Vod’ika” Sire could feel the glare coming through Anubis’s visor. “The ship doesn’t have the fuel to get us to Coruscant.”

“Well what about the comms?”

“Got knocked out on the way up here.” Thera replied with a wince as she shifted.

Anubis glanced up at the ship where a single scorch mark was on the side of its hull. “Have you figured out it’s name yet?”

“Nova, her name is Nova.” Thera replied as she looked at her ship. Though what a Nubian ship was doing all the way out here she couldn’t say, but it was hers now.   
  


Thera glanced at all of the survivors that were here with her. She just hoped that someone was coming and she prayed to the Force that someone was. That someone cared enough to come for them.   
  
The Force heard her and on their way was two of the GAR’s best.

/.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.\

Captain Rex and Commander Cody and their men liked to believe that after the Jedi they served under nothing surprised them anymore. This would be the one time Rex could remember Hardcase even being still for so long. Out the window of the Acclamator-class assault ship was a single massive Star Destroyer. Their ship was heading into its massive docking bay.

Anakin, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan soon joined them. They too were surprised by the shear size of the ship. It’s massive turrets lined the outer hull with smaller ones in between the rows of the larger turrets. It had a large lip on the top of the bow right at the end of the hanger entrance. The massive vessel had the distinct twin bridges of the Venator class star destroyers.   
  


They watched as they went underneath the massive vessel as they docked with it. The ship shuddered as it docked. The all looked at each other and made to head to the bridge once they had docked.

/.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.\  
  


Sasha Kryze stood atop the bridge of the Venator Battleship Warsaw. The young Zygerrian stood watching the returning ships and the nearby Venator star destroyers. She could see the Concord, Resolute and the Negotiator.   
  


“Admiral.”

Sashe turned to face the clone addressing her. “Yes Slide?”

“The 501st and 212th have finished docking.”

“Good. Send them up.”

“They already on their way sir.”

Sasha blinked. “Oh well thank you Slide. Can you make sure the batteries and ships are ready?”

“Yes sir.”

“Thank you Slide.” Sasha gave the clone a soft smile. She knew exactly what her people thought of others. She knew exactly how people saw hers. She had been exiled for helping free slaves. She hated it and the very thought of slavery made her growl. But Sasha was no fool. She knew that no one asked these wonderful beings that were clones if they wanted to fight and die. But if she could make them happy then she would.   
  


She had seen how that disgusting being called Sula Kasten had treated his own men. How he had treated the crew of her ship. She remembers the awe and resolves in the clones eyes when she had Kasten forcibly removed from her bridge. She couldn’t stand how he had called them by their numbers. How he had talked down to them as if they were dirt and things. After he had been removed she had him barred from the bridge. He was not allowed on it at all.   
  


She was worried about the brave soldiers of the 803rd who were seen as nothing but cannon fodder and simply expandable. Their lives meaningless to him. But they had one person on their side. His Padawan and their Jedi Commander Thera Kryze. She refused to see them as that and saw them how she saw them.

As people.

“Sir, the elevator to the bridge glitched again. It won’t open its door at the bottom. Only after three decks up from the bottom from the bridge tower.”   
  


Sasha sighed as her head hung down and she pinched her nose. “Alright you know the drill. Tell Grease what happened.” She loved the Warsaw. She really did but it’s state of the art systems were still working out the kinks. It was a prototype after all.

“All ready did Admiral.” 

  
“Thank you Dust.” She watched as the trooper went back to his data pad. Dust like Slide was one of the first troopers assigned to the Warsaw.   
  


She heard the doors of the bridge open and close followed by footsteps approaching her. “General Skywalker, Kenobi. Commnader Tano. Commander Cody, Captain Rex. Welcome aboard the Warsaw. We’ll be getting underway in just a few seconds.”

“Admiral, all stations are ready.” Slide said aloud.

“Thank you Slide.”

“You’re welcome Sir.”

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Dust looking at her. “Yes Dust?”

“The Concord reports all stations ready.”

“Very good. Get us underway.”

“At once Admiral.”

Sasha turned back toward them. “Let’s go over what we know and have some sort of a briefing.” She glanced at their faces before speaking again. “You can ask about the Warsaw you know. I don’t bite.”

“Unless it’s sparring!” Shouted a clone somewhere on the bridge.

“It was one time Rile and you cheated!” 

“Did not!”

“You pulled on my ears!” She then walked over to the holotable. “Before we begin I have one condition. You will treat me and my men with respect or you will be removed from the bridge. With force if necessary.” She gave the three Jedi a hard glare as she said this. She didn’t know them. She had only what she had heard and while she personally doubted that they would, she wasn’t going to take any chances.

The three of them gave assurances that they would and she pulled up a holo of Naxos from the recent scouting mission two of her pilots had gone on. “Alright what do you know?”

It was General Kenobi who answered. “Not much I’m afraid. All we know is that we lost contact with the 803rd. We have been tasked to find them and make contact.”

Sasha sighed. “Alright we’ll here is what I know. The last ship in contact with them at the time of loss of contact was the Concord who was delivering supplies. She was attacked by the Separatist fleet which is now blockading Naxos. The lost of contact was caused by destructing of communications on the ground. The Concord dropped off as much as supplies as it could before retreating.”

“If it was such a problem why was this ship not involved sooner?” Ahsoka asked. The others nodded along with her. She had a good question.

“Good question. This ship was getting resupplied and getting a better hyperdrive installed at that time.”

“A new hyperdrive?” General Skywalker voiced with visible concern.   
  


“The old wasn’t fast enough for her so we got a new one that allows us to have a Hyperdrive class of 1.2.”

Anakin gave a low whistle at that.   
  


“Now the situation on Naxos was deteriorating rapidly. Before the loss of contact we had reports of the population turning on our troops down on the surface. I’m afraid that the entire army down there we were sent to help along with defending the civilian population has turned against them. I’m sure that if that has happened then just about everyone able has taken up arms against them.” She sighed as she looked at the hologram. “Before we exit hyperspace the Warsaw will use its advanced jammer to jam their coms before they can call for reinforcements. From there my ship will rip their fleet apart.” She walked away from the holotable and back towards the front of the bridge.   
  


She didn’t look at them as she spoke again. “The ship was designed to take out vessels like the Malevolence, with just a few dings and scratches. The shields can be ionized making ion weapons useless as it redirects the energy into a discharge array. Her heavy turrets can punch through shield that are doubled. This ship is designed to completely destroy fleets, blockades and dreadnoughts.” She looked out over the swirling stars of hyperspace. She prayed to the Force that they wouldn’t be too late.

/.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.\

Three clones made their way as quietly along the streets of Dolan. Staying hunched and close to the buildings, looking for any signs of where their brothers and sisters. Their Jedi Commander Thera was probably with them. Hopefully they were alright.   
  


“River, do you have any idea where they would have gone?”   
  


The clone with soft fading burnt orange rivers painted on their armor stopped and looked over her shoulder. Behind her was a clone with an antenna on each shoulder and a pattern of rings on their armor with a solid circle in the middle of their chest plate. “I have a pretty good idea Relay. We just have to get there first.” River shifted the DC-15A rifle in her hands.

“And where is that?” Asked another clone, the DC-15a rifle shifting off of her shoulder. Her armor was painted with small lines all over the armor while the top half of her pauldrons, the collar bone area of her chest plate and her helmet was solid burnt orange.

“That hill.” River pointed at the large hill looming over the entire city. “We just have to make it there first.” She turned around to face the other clone. “Raine get on the roof of that tower and tell us how long you think it’ll take.”

“Alright.” She said as she turned and began to scale the side of the ruined building. It didn’t take long for the agile clone to reach the top. The sight took her breath away.

She could see the amount of destruction wreaked upon the city. But as she looked out from top of the ten story tower she knew they had at least 45 minutes to get out of the city and probably another ten to climb the hill where there appeared to be a structure of some sort. So just under an hour.   
  


Raine made her way down after doing a quick visual scan of the area around them for any signs of the enemy. “Just under an hour if we don’t get held up by anything.”

“Alright let’s get moving then. Let’s stay quiet if we can.” River moved her rifle back into both hands as they took off down the streets of Dolan.   
  


For over half an hour they snuck through the streets and closer towards the hill. River suddenly stopped short of a nearby intersection with out warning. She was staring straight down the road before she switched her rifle to one hand and ran down the street.   
  


Raine and Relay glanced at each other as they ran after. They could hear her muttering no over and over again. They watched as she ran up to a slumped trooper against a building as she dropped her rifle and pulled her helmet off revealing her chestnut hair. A mutation that she had been covering before this campaign by using black hair dye.

“No, no, no, no! Come wake up!” She began to shake the trooper desperately trying to get any reaction or sign of life from the trooper as she stuck her finger into the pulse point on the troopers neck. She continued to shake the trooper as tears began to run down her face.

But the trooper was dead.

River made a sound that Raine and Relay hoped to never hear from her again as she crushed the fallen trooper to her.   
  


Raine though had noticed close to 60 enemy solider making their way down the street. They hadn’t noticed them yet. “River, we need to go.” River looked at her. “We can’t stay here they’ll see us.” She hissed at her trying to get her to move.

“I can’t just leave him here!”

“River!”

“He’s my batchmate!” She snapped giving Raine a death glare that could melt Hoth.   
  


“He’s Nix, isn’t he.” River’s silence was enough for an answer. “I’m sorry about him but we can’t bury him if we’re dead.”

“I’m the last one now of my batch.”

“We’ll help you. But first we need to either move or find somewhere to hide.”

“No we’ll make them pay. Raine find an elevated position inside a building with good clear sight lines. Relay you’re with me. We’ll get them like we did by the train station.” She grabbed her helmet and put it on.

Raine took off for a nearby building that was missing a large chunk allowing her to sit in the shadows and fire on them from above. River and Relay took positions on opposite sides of the street.

River held her hand where very one but the enemy could see it and began a count down from Five.

Five.

Four.

River changed hands so she was counting with her left while she shoulder her rifle as it sat on a piece of rubble she was using for cover.

Three.

Relay shifted and got ready to fire upon them. Her grip on her DC-15S carbine tightened.

Two.

Raine took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She slowly exhaled and opened her left eye.

One.

River opened fire followed by Relay and Raine. The enemy shouted and swore as they ducked for cover as fast as possible but they caught them where all the buildings had collapsed leaving them with little cover. Their ambush caught twenty of them as they scrambled about the road for cover.   
  


Raine continued to provide sniper support as River took down one that tried to throw a thermal detonator at them. Her eyes widened as she heard the enemy give a loud battle cry as they rushed their position. River at one point switched her rifle to fully automatic as she cut through the rushing enemy soldiers. Raine heard River yell at Relay to throw one of their precious few thermal detonators at them. The resulting explosion sent limbs and bodies flying. 

The remaining distance they tried to rush ended in failure as they all fell to their fire. “Raine, Stay up there! Relay and I are going to make sure they’re dead.”   
  


“Copy.” She then settled in and got ready to report anything. She was the best shot in the entire 803rd. Probably the only reason she even got off Kamino. That and River can be scary when’s she mad. She had fought tooth and nail to have her as a sixth squad member.

/.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.\  
  
The ship shuddered as it exited hyperspace. “Open Fire!” Sasha immediately ordered. “Launch our fighters!” As she marched up to the windows of the bridge. She saw as the Warsaw ripped apart the Separatist ships. It’s massive cannons shredding the smaller ships as it made quick work of the larger Lucrehulk ships. It only took the Warsaw a few minutes to completely destroy the blockade. She watched the rest of their fleet head into Naxos’ atmosphere. Hopefully they would find them alive.

/.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.\

“There is a possibility of landing under fire. We have no idea what the situation on the surface is but we do have their last known location, the city of Dolan. The 501st will take the eastern side of the city while the 212th will take the west.” Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and Anakin laid out the plan to the gathered men of both the 501st and the 212th.

“That is all.” Anakin told them.

The city being shown on the hologram was unusual. On either side of the hill in the center of the city was the city itself. On the southern side was a massive park where the large government building was located.   
  


They made their way to the gunships as they made their way into the lower atmosphere of Naxos. The hangar doors opened and they were soon heading towards the city. The park tapered off and ended before reaching the government building. There was another large courtyard or park in front of a palace. The palace itself was a bit isolated from the surrounding buildings.   
  


/.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.\  
  


A clone with Greek styled lines in his armor climbed up onto the hangar floor that the Nova was currently sitting on and the remnants of the 803rd were gathered.   
  


“Saros!” Anubis pointed in his direction.   
  


Saros made his way over to Thera who was sitting on a crate as Sire rewrapped her wounded forearm. “It’s not good. They are definitely up to something. They’ve been gathering forces and supplies on the west side of the hill down by palace. But I doubt they’ll do anything for at least another week.” He sighed before continuing. “I think they’re going to do an all out assault to wipe us out completely. Once and for all.”

“Thank you Saros.”   
  


“Sire!” Rabbit called out frantically. That caused Saros and Sire to run over to her while Anubis stayed with Thera to make sure she didn’t make her condition worse.   
  


“Ships on the horizon!” She said as she thrust her electrobinoculars into his chest. He looked through them and could make out several ships. “I can’t make them out their flying too low. Rabbit run aboard the Nova and try her scanner.”

Rabbit gave a sharp nod and gave a sprinted towards the ship. After darting up the ramp she made for the scanner. It showed her a small fleet and was tracking several smaller ships. But one ship caught her attention. A massive signal in the upper atmosphere. Since the destruction of the Malevolence only one ship that she knew had a single that big. The fact it dwarfed any star destroyer only made it one possibility. The Warsaw.

She ran back out of the ship eager to tell everyone but the sound of a blaster going off redirected her attention towards Anubis whose DC-15A was still smoking. She watched her sister creep every closer to the western edge of the hangar.   
  


She glanced towards Sire, Jazz and Saros. More shots rang out and she ran over to Anubis. Once at the edge she saw way too many enemies coming up the destroyed forest on the hill. She began blasting away as fast as she could while Jazz, Saros and Sire joined them.   
  


Sire had a specially made blaster rifle from Thera. It allowed it to have a greater shot capacity while a stunning rate of fire. It was capable of firing faster than the Z-6 rotary blaster. But it had been made to have low recoil making it easy to keep on target. Sire’s blaster cut through them as they rushed up the hill trying the wipe out the remnants of the 803rd.

Anubis jumped when the snap hiss of a lightsaber went off behind her. She turned around to see one of the soldiers of Naxos behind her with a glowing blade of a orange lightsaber through his chest. The saber shot to the left cutting off an arm before swinging back to the right but higher, cutting the head off of the soldier.

Thera was moving slow but deflect as many bolts as she can and occasionally cutting down any that got close. The situation quickly descended into a desperate fight for survival.

/.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.\

A large flight of Republic star fighters consisting of two dozen fighter and twenty bombers flew through the atmosphere. This was Solar Eclipse Squadron. Solar being the fighters and Eclipse the bombers.

“Solar 1, I see a lot of fire on the west side of that hill.”

“Copy Solar 3, I see it too. Solar squad circle the hill I’m going to see if we got any of our troopers down there.” The lone red and scarlet Z-95 headhunter with a single black and orange strip running down the middle of the white paint streaked down making a quick pass over the firefight. He could easily make out the blade of a lightsaber. “Solar 1 to Solar 2 through 8 form up. We’re going to make a pass on those in the trees.”

“Copy that.” Came the rapid response from them.   
  


/.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.\  
  


They all looked up when they heard the sound of a fighters streaking towards them at high speed. Looking up they saw Republic star fighter make a fast strafing and bombing run on the enemy soldiers rushing them.   
  


They cheered as the ships hit them hard forcing them back down the hill. They fired on them until they no longer had lines on them.

Thera stumbled as they all relaxed and Anubis steadied her and helped her walk back to the crate she had been sitting on.

“Rest.” Thera could feel the concerned gaze coming from Anubis.   
  


Saros walked over to her and gently placed the back of his hand on her forehead. “She’s burning up.” He pulled off his canteen and gently poured water onto a rag that Anubis handed him. He then gently dabbed it on her head.   
  


/.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.\  
  


The 501 landed smoothly at their landing zone and jumped off the gunships. Around them the city was in ruins as rotting bodies laid in the streets. The destroyed droids ran out after eight blocks into the city, after that it was nothing but flesh bodies. The stench of death combined with the usual smells of a war zone assaulted their noses.

The streets had small piles of rubble placed all over and some buildings were completely collapsed. At the front leading was Anakin, Ahsoka, Rex then Fives and Echo. The rest of Torrent Company right behind them.   
  


The streets were deserted and the city itself was eerily quiet. Jesse at one point thought he saw movement near the inside of a fallen ceiling. He went over and grabbed the arm he could see hanging out from the rubble. He pulled on it and gave a startled Yelp as he shot backwards. It wasn’t a body. Just an arm.   
  


They searched the building but figured the body must have been buried under the rubble.

  
Ridge had the unfortunate honor of discovering the next startling thing. He tripped slightly over one of the rubble piles causing the pieces of it to fall down. He gave a cry of alarm as a helmet stared back at him.

They can running over to Ridge to see what had caused his outburst. It soon became clear what had caused it. Anakin ordered a few stones be removed from each of the similar piles on the street to confirm a hunch of his.

Each one revealed a clone underneath, one that had been buried in haste. He was right, those weren’t piles of rubble but graves. They reburied them and continued their way through the city as they looked for any survivors.

Eventually they came across what must have been their base and they carefully went inside. The interior was in complete disarray. From half open and destroyed doors to light fixtures hanging by their wires. Up ahead was a gunship that had crashed into the wall. The interior blast shield was open but the doors were closed.   
  


Rex glanced out side and saw thousands of helmets. He stopped and the others followed his gaze. Over three thousand burnt orange painted helmets were sitting on rifles in a make shift graveyard.   
  


They moved on and kept going through the base when Ahsoka cried out for Anakin. He came running over to her and Rex. He saw what she was looking at. A crumpled body and a lightsaber still on his belt. “This must be Sula Kasten.” He said to no one in particular as he kneeled next to the body. It looked like he had been taken out with extreme prejudice and most definitely overkill. He took his wrist com and called Obi-Wan to tell him.   
  


“Obi-Wan we located what was the temporary base of the 803rd and the body of Knight Sula Kasten.”

**“Any signs of the others or survivors?”  
  
**

“No Master but whoever did this caught him off guard. They shot him enough times to make sure he was dead several times over.”

**“That’s odd. Well keep moving and hopefully find them.”**

“Yes Master.” Anakin ended the call on his wrist com and they set about searching the base for any intel about the possible location of the survivors of the 803rd.

The found nothing other debris and bodies. Most of the bodies weren’t even clones but the people who lived on Naxos instead. Some of them were children.   
  


They moved through the base and back out onto the streets. The little rubble piles that were graves were few and in between until just four blocks further.

The destruction was worse here. The streets were littered with bodies. They had to step over and in between them as they made their way through the the streets. Craters on the roads were filled with blood and little mounds of rubble marking the makeshift grave of fallen clones were everywhere in large numbers. Possibly even hundreds per street.

This continued until there was hardly any rubble piles and the only bodies were those of Naxoians.   
  


To the troopers of the 501st it hurt to know that so many of the dead were around them. It was soul crushing to find nothing but bodies. So many of their brothers dead and unanswered questions.   
  


Anakin stopped and put his hand on a wall by a bisected Naxoian. The mark on the wall was definitely made by a lightsaber. “Well we know for sure that Kasten’s Padawan was here.”  
  


“General, I found something!” Fives shouted. They went running over to where he was standing. It was a two words in aubresh scratched into the side of a building. All it read was view point.   
  


“So all we need to do is find the best view point but that could be anywhere.” Rex said aloud.   
  


“Not anywhere.” Anakin a said as he placed his hand on Rex’s shoulder before pointing up. “Up there.”   
  


Everyone looked to where he was pointing and saw the massive hill separating the east and west side of the city.   
  


Before they could move on they heard the distinct sound of blaster fire. They all glanced at each other before running towards it, hoping they wouldn’t be too late. They heard the sound of an explosion as the ran. Then another one after more blaster fire before silence.   
  


Then something odd. They heard more blaster fire but it was slower. They picked their way through the rubble of two collapsed buildings before coming upon a sight they had never seen.   
  


In front of them were two clones going over the bodies of fallen Naxoian soldiers before occasionally firing a shot into one of the bodies. They realized with horror that they were making sure each and everyone of them were dead. They were taking no quarter with them and were killing those who still drew breath.

Ahsoka winced as the one in the center fired the rifle in their hands point blank into a soldier. She watched in muted horror with the others as a single soldier started to strain to get up before the second one ran over to them and kicked them back down before shooting them.   
  


“Troopers!” She called out only to duck as the Force blared in warning. A bolt came flying toward her head with deadly accuracy as another came hurting towards Rex. A third bolt from an unseen shooter nearly hit Fives as they all ducked for what cover they could find.   
  


When they looked up the troopers were gone.

/.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.|.:.:.:.\

River carefully stepped over the bodies as she and Relay both made sure that they were all dead. Raine was watching them from above. She is after all the best shot in the entire 803rd. 

One of the soldiers started to get up back Relay was quicker. She ran over and kicked him back down before killing him with a shot through the heart.   
  


A single shout of “Troopers!” startled them as they immediately fire upon them and ducked into cover. River was down in between a cluster of bodies while Relay ducked behind part of a blown up speeder. Raine has stayed in spotted and was watching from above.

No one moved.

Then they heard a voice. “Hold your fire, We are coming out!”

Raine heard River’s voice in her internal coms. “If they make any aggressive movements, kill them.”

“Got it.” She shifted slightly. They knew that these weren’t 803rd members but they were taking no chances after an ambush of Naxoian soldiers in stolen armor had claimed most of their group just ten days ago, making River the highest ranking of the three.   
  


The unknowns came out from cover and where in the marking of 501st blue. There was two ARC’s and the other one had Jaig eyes. They had a single female togruta and a human male.   
  


River, watching from her position noticed the lightsabers. “Two Jedi.” She stated over her internal coms. “Get ready.”

“Standing by.”

“Standing by.”

“Take off your buckets!” She demanded. They shifted confusion in their stance. “Now!” She snapped.

Each of them took off their helmets and River quickly ordered a stand down when the faces of nothing but clones greeted her eyes. She slowly stood up as Relay got out from her own cover. She remembered their Captain saying something about Captain Rex of the 501st. 

Raine lowered her rifle but didn’t move from the shadows of the building she was in.

River made no move to get closer to them. “Are you part of the 803rd?” The human Jedi asked.   
  


“Yes Sir.” She said with a hard voice. She didn’t trust the Jedi. Only one she did trust was Thera and she didn’t know where she was. But she did have a pretty good idea.

“Does Viewpoint mean anything to you?” The one with Jaig eyes asked.   
  


“Yes...” 

“Rex, But you can call me Captain or Sir.”   
  


“Well Captain, Viewpoint is code in the 803rd for highest defensive point.” She then turned and pointed at the hill. “Which is that. Probably mean anyone else still alive is either there or making their way to it.”

“Well let’s get moving.” The Togruta said. 

River ignored them and motioned to Raine to come down. She had to bury her brother first. Then they could move to the hill.

They watched them move towards a single body against a wall. Just before they reached it another trooper joined them.   
  


The two Jedi shared a glance with Rex before following the troopers. “What are your names?” Anakin asked them as he approached.

“CT-19...” River didn’t get much farther before Anakin cut her off. “No your names unless you don’t have one yet.”

“River.” Rex noted that the armor was faded water colored burnt orange with soft rivers painted onto it.

“Relay.” That clone had painted rings on their armor with a solid circle in the center of the chest plate. On each shoulder was an antenna.

“Raine.” Their armor was painted with small lines all over it with the top half of the pauldrons, collarbone area and their entire helmet were solid burnt orange. They were holding their rifle’s trigger in their left hand.

Rex sucked in a breath when River pulled off his helmet revealing that River was actually a sister. He watched along with everyone else as she knelt down next to the body.

“I’m not going anywhere til I bury my batchmate.” She told them. They watched as she gently pulled the helmet off the fallen brother and closed his eyes. She put his helmet back on before laying him down. She, Relay and Raine picked up small rubble pieces. The covered the body completely before paying their respects. 

  
River grabbed her helmet and put it back. “Alright let’s move. Heads down, eyes and ears open. If you see a Naxoian shoot first ask questions later. Otherwise you’ll be dead.” She then turned with Relay on her left and Raine on her right. 

Fortunately they didn’t run into any more trouble and soon they were at the bottom of the hill. Before trying to climb the hill they decided to take a short break.

River turned to Relay as she crossed her arms. “Take it off.” Relay started to protest but River snapped at her. “Take it off Relay, now!”   
  


Relay sighed knowing that she wasn’t going to delay or win this. She shot Raine a dark look as she snickered at her. But she soon knocked it off when River rounded on her. “I don’t why you’re laughing your next.” Relay was rather pleased with the groan that came from Raine.

Kix was watching them quietly. He made a distressed noise when he saw the filthy bandage wrapped around Relay’s right thigh. It was only then he noticed that all of them had blast marks on their armor. River had two of them on her abdomen running up to just under her ribs. Relay had one on his, no _her_ thigh. Kix realized that Relay was also a sister as Relay took off her helmet. Once again _another_ sister was revealed when Raine took off her helmet. Raine had a blast mark on her left side and another under her left ribs. 

Kix grabbed his pack and made his way closer as he could hear them trying to convince River to let them take care of her bandages but she snapped at them they didn’t have the supplies for that. “Let me help, I’m Kix. Medic of the 501st. I’ll treat them and you.”   
  


He could feel the glare coming from River. “No, they get treated first. You can treat me after we get off this rock.” She crossed her arms and shifted her weight mostly to her right foot. Relay and Raine both groaned in frustration.   
  


River could feel the disapproving glare coming from Kix but she didn’t care.   
  


Kix set about to treating their wounds quickly. He made sure they were clean before redressing them. Before he could round on River she called for them to get to their feet.   
  


“You see it?” Raine asked River as they stood looking at the hill. 

“Yeah, I see it.”   
  


“See what?” Rex asked. He didn’t see anything. He glanced at Ahsoka who only gave a shake of her head. She didn’t see anything either.   
  


“There just by the left of boulder. It’s Rabbit trail.”   
  


“Rabbit?” Fives asked.

“Yeah Rabbit. It’s one of her trails. She makes them for us but unless you know what you’re looking for they’re damn near impossible to spot.” Raine responded. 

“Let’s get moving. Keep on the trial. It’s likely that the rest of the hill has booby traps. Also let us go first once at the top.”

“Do you think they found Thera?” Relay asked her voice small and unsure. It was at times like this that River was reminded that Relay was the youngest of them.   
  


“Hey, I’m worried about her too, but we have to focus on the here and now.” She pulled Relay into a quick hug.   
  


Relay gave a short nod but followed her up the hill.   
  


They made their way up the hill at a rapid pace before stopping at the lip of the hangar entrance. River cautiously put her head up over the lip after using the battle signs for halt.   
  


Only to swear as she ducked back down as a bolt came flying at her head and hit the lip in front of her. She short back up and caught sight of Rabbit’s distinctive armor. Solid painted boots and shins. The thigh plates with diagonal lines then the torso armor with more diagonal lines but in the opposite direction. Her arms were painted with two small stripes running up them. The center of her helmet on the back was where two long diamonds begin before ending in the center of the back of her chest plate.

“Damn it Rabbit! Hold your fire!” She shouted. The bolts stopped abruptly.

“River?”

She stuck her head all the way up followed by Raine and Relay. “Yes it’s me.”

“River!” Rabbit cried out much louder this time.   
  


River had just climbed up onto the hangar floor when Rabbit rushed forward to embrace her. That caused all the others up there to look towards them.   
  


River could see Anubis fussing over the hobbling figure of Thera limping her way towards them. “Thank the Force! I was worried you guys were gone.” She said once she was close enough.   
  


“We weren’t sure what happened you.”

“I escaped. We lost contact with Silo company though. They were on the east side.”

Anakin stepped forward. “General Kenobi and Commander Cody with the 212th should find them. They went to meet us here by going through the East side of Dolan.”

**Author's Note:**

> The star I envisioned on Sire’s chest plate. http://static.ratemyink.com/images/ul/752/celtic-star-tattoo-75200.jpeg  
> The Nova (Pic is not mine but what I based it off of.) https://www.deviantart.com/adamkop/art/Star-Wars-Nubian-Corvette-Commission-409940865


End file.
